Beyonder
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The Beyonder is a fictional Supreme Being type character in the Marvel Comics universe. He was created by writer/editor Jim Shooter and artists Mike Zeck and John Beatty for the Secret Wars limited series (1984), although he was not given a physical form until Secret Wars II #1, which was written by Shooter and illustrated by penciller Al Milgrom and inker Steve Leialoha.
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[edit] Character biography / Publication history
[edit] Secret Wars
The Beyonder was the sum total of a pocket dimension called the Beyond-Realm or simply "Beyond", hence the name "Beyonder". This dimension was accidentally accessed by nebbish lab technician Owen Reece. Part of the energy from the dimension escaped and imbued Reece with near-infinite powers, which he wielded as the villainous Molecule Man - potentially one of the most powerful villains in the Marvel Universe. The remaining energy of the pocket dimension apparently gained sentience and curiosity. Using its vast powers, the Beyonder created a planet called "Battleworld" out of pieces of various planets (one such piece being a suburb of Denver) and abducted a number of superheroes and supervillains from Earth so that he could observe the never-ending battle between good and evil that rages within humanity at large.
In initially explaining the nature of the experiment to the involuntary participants, the entity identified itself only as "I am from beyond." The name "Beyonder" was quickly applied by Galactus and adopted by all others present. Galactus, sensing that the Beyonder could alleviate his perpetual hunger, immediately and aggressively charged into the Beyond-Realm through a dimensional rift, followed by Doctor Doom, who sought power for his own purposes. Both were repelled, but the information gathered by Doom later enabled him to use the body of the sound-based villain Klaw as a medium to steal the energies of Galactus' Worldship and then the power of the Beyonder itself. With the Beyonder's power, Doom constructed a 200-mile high tower of golden stone as temporary quarters, and then stated that he had given up his ambitions for conquest, instead simply being content with freeing his mother's soul from Mephisto. The Beyonder's consciousness then possessed Klaw's damaged mind, and manipulated Doom into unconsciously squandering his power against the superheroes, distracting him enough for the Beyonder to steal his power back.
This formed the basis of the first Secret Wars twelve-issue limited series. The series sold incredibly well with circulation reaching up to 750,000 copies per issue, numbers reminiscent of the height of comicbook sales during the Golden Age of the 1940s.
[edit] Secret Wars II
Due to the high sales of the first series, a second Secret Wars series, the nine-issue Secret Wars II miniseries, was published. This series crossed over into almost every comic that Marvel was publishing at the time.
Intrigued by what he had witnessed during the first Secret Wars, the Beyonder came to Earth to walk among humans and study them and learn of human desire firsthand. He created a human body for himself; originally this body resembled an amalgam of parts of various superbeings. He then changed it to one based on that of Captain America, but he later patterned his hairstyle and wardrobe after Michael Jackson's look as Captain Eo.
On a train to New York, Beyonder met the mutant known as Boom Boom. Thinking he was a mutant, Boom Boom accompanied him. The Beyonder abandoned her but returned and took her to Xavier's school. At the school, Tabitha was terrified when the teams of the X-Men and the New Mutants fought the Beyonder. The Beyonder took her to a planet where the Celestials were located. There, threatening to destroy the universe, the Beyonder fought and seemingly defeated a number of Celestials. (However, that planet was not truly the Celestials' headquarters, and the Celestials allowed the Beyonder to "defeat" them, presumably in order to observe him in action.) Fearful of the battle taking place between the Beyonder and the Celestials, Tabitha demanded to be returned to Earth. Back on Earth, Boom Boom alerted the Avengers about the Beyonder. Summoning the Beyonder, Boom Boom thereby led him into an ambush by the Avengers and other costumed champions. The Beyonder, who had regarded Boom Boom as his only friend, allowed the Avengers to defeat him, but then left. Boom Boom left during the battle.
His complete lack of understanding of human biology and society led to numerous difficult situations, some serious and some humorous. For instance, he needed to learn by example the difference between edible objects and non-edible ones, and needed to be toilet-trained by Spider-Man. When he learned about the monetary system from a homeless woman and Luke Cage, the Hero for Hire, he transformed a Manhattan office building into gold as thanks for their assistance. He later became the head of a criminal cartel and then used mind control to assume control over the entire Earth, only to reliquish control when he grew restless and frustrated with the lack of free will that the world now displayed. He had a brief love affair with the musician Dazzler, and, when pondering his place and needs in the universe, accidentally inspired a cult of meditators. His body was destroyed, or nearly destroyed, several times over, although each time he would repair it with his powers.
Throughout the course of the series, the demon Mephisto sought to steal his powers or to destroy him to win the favor of Death. The Beyonder ultimately died when he tried to create for himself a mortal human body that could retain his omnipotence; although he was on the verge of succeeding, he was killed in the process by the Molecule Man. The Beyonder's near-limitless power was returned to the now-empty "Beyond-Realm", where it formed a Big Bang and created a new universe (this was initially presented as being the New Universe in which the line of comics of the same name were set, but this idea seems to have later been set aside along with the New Universe itself).
[edit] Kosmos & Maker
The tale of the Beyonder continued several years later in an issue of the Fantastic Four, in a story called "Secret Wars 3". The characters learned that the energy which comprised the Beyonder and the energy that gave the Molecule Man his powers needed to be combined in order to create the basis for a mentally stable, mature nigh-omnipotent being to be born. This being, called Kosmos, expelled the Molecule Man from her form, and returned him to Earth. Kosmos took on female form and tutored under Kubik. When the Molecule Man's lover, Volcana, left him, Owen Reece got angry, extracted the Beyonder from Kosmos and proceeded to attack him, until Kubik intervened.
At some unknown point, Kosmos went mad and assumed a mortal form, now calling itself the Maker. After the Maker destroyed a Shi'ar colony, the Imperial Guard managed to imprison it in the interstellar prison called the Kyln. The Maker's madness took control of several inmates, but was finally subdued by the nihilist Thanos and several of his allies among the prisoners. Thanos confronted the Maker and psychically shut down its mind.
Apparently, Thanos had encountered the Beyonder in the past, but this was never explained, as Thanos was dead at the time of Secret Wars II (of course, one of the Beyonder's many powers included Time Travel as well, so a past meeting with a younger Thanos of Titan would have been entirely possible). Thanos' flashback showed Thanos as a youngster. This may have been a plot writer Keith Giffen would have elaborated on in the future.
[edit] Beyond! and Annihilation
The Beyonder apparently returned in the series named after him, Beyond![1]. This being was called The Beyonder in the second issue. This "Beyonder" was once again in command of the patchwork Battleworld, where it would be revealed that he had been collecting various superhumans and pitting them in combat with one another. Eventually, the pool of heroes and villains featured in the mini-series discover that this Beyonder is actually The Stranger, who has been conducting studies of super-humanity through re-creations of the original Secret War.
In the "Annihilation" crossover, the former Herald of Galactus, the Fallen One, now under the control of Thanos, is sent to investigate the aftermath of the Kyln's destruction by the Annihilation Wave and ascertain the Beyonder's fate; the Fallen One soon finds her lifeless form in the rubble. However, given the strange nature of her existence as a Cosmic Cube, as well as the fact that she was killed once before in Secret Wars II without apparent ill effect (the Cosmic Cube energy that was the original Beyonder simply filling up an empty pocket dimension where it was shunted to and starting life anew), it is uncertain at this time if she is truly and permanently dead.
It was recently revealed [2] that the Beyonder would be making an appearance in the upcoming Illuminati limited series set to debut in December 2006. The series is written by Brian Michael Bendis and Brian Reed and pencilled by Jim Cheung.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Although not native to this dimension, the Beyonder was one of the most powerful beings ever to exist in the Marvel Universe. However, he was not omnipotent as many initially believed, being an incomplete Cosmic Cube, with less raw power and the same limitations of a complete cube. Nonetheless, he possessed vast psionic abilities allowing him manipulate matter and energy at a cosmic level beyond all but only the most powerful of cosmic entities. He once destroyed a galaxy on a whim to meet his needs during the first Secret Wars, though this may have been an illusion (Molecule Man did claim he re-created the stars while transporting the city of Denver and the Super-Villains back to Earth). He could endow himself with a corporeal form of limitless strength and endurance. He had the potential to reach near omniscience as well, but he died before his mind could reach maturity.
[edit] Behind the Scenes
The Beyonder was a controversial character amongst creators. Creators felt that Jim Shooter had abused his role as editor-in-chief, and forced the use of the omnipotent character upon other writers and editors. Some critics felt the crossovers didn't always mesh well with the main book. One of the most vocal critics was John Byrne.
Apparently, Steve Englehart wanted to tie in the Beyonder to older characters known as the Beyonders (first mentioned in the team-up comic Marvel Two-in-One #63, beings powerful enough to collect planets) for his "Secret Wars III' story in Fantastic Four #318-319. According to Englehart, an editor hated the character and ordered the Beyonder "removed" from the Marvel Universe. Englehart did as asked but has stated that he tried to exile the character with dignity. The character was subjected to a retcon making him less potent than originally determined, and explanations of his omnipotence have been written off as the more powerful beings "playing along" to ease the Beyonder's transition into self-awareness. It was explained in Secret Wars III that the Beyonder was in fact a cosmic cube. During the first secret war he said was in fact the embodiment of an entire universe. That as he became aware he thought himself to be the only person of his universe. And that he was that universe. But in Secret Wars III, his origins became that of wayward cosmic cube. A pawn of beings known as beyonders.
[edit] In Other Media
The Beyonder makes an appearance in the Spider-Man cartoon during the early 90's. However, his appearance in the cartoon greatly differs from the comics, as he sports a goatee and a futuristic suit as opposed to having a clean-shaven face with a disco outfit. He is also actually more of a good guy than a villain.
The Beyonder first appeared in the episode "Arrival" of Season 5, the first chapter of that Secret Wars in the series. The Beyonder worked with Madame Web to prepare Spider-Man for the Secret Wars. When Doctor Doom was defeated in "Doom," the third and last chapter to the Secret Wars, the Beyonder had all the heroes Spider-Man had prepared for the battle forget what they did and return everything back to normal for them on their homes. Spider-Man, however, was needed to be used for something bigger so he was the only one who remembered the events.
